"VAN" (Sports Desk - 30.06.2025) :: The Australian Rowing Team capped off its World Rowing Cups series with a strong showing at the 2025 World Rowing Cup - Lucerne, where 29 Australian athletes stepped onto the podium across six crews.
With the Rotsee providing a dramatic stage, Australia’s Olympic, Paralympic and development crews delivered fast, fearless racing in their final international test before the World Championships in Shanghai in September.
Australia’s Men’s Four and PR1 Men’s Single Sculls crews both claimed back-to-back Gold medals, doubling down on their Varese victories with dominant performances.
In the PR1 Men’s Single, Erik Horrie OAM PLY absorbed early pressure from France’s Alexis Sanchez before powering away to win comfortably in 9:01.16.
The Men’s Four once again set the tone from the front, leading from the first stroke and holding off a late charge from Romania and Lithuania to take Gold in 5:47.03.
The Women’s Four also impressed, surging out to an early lead before the USA rowed through in the final 500m. Australia held off New Zealand and Great Britain to secure a well-earned Silver medal.
Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE praised the performances while highlighting opportunities for further improvement.
“They’ve obviously got great speed, we just need to stretch that out over the full distance,” Thompson said.
“We’ve seen competitive racing right across the squad and that’s exactly what we want before bringing the team together for Shanghai.”
Australia’s PR3 Mixed Double Sculls crew of Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunell returned to the podium with Silver, closing the gap on the German crew that beat them in Varese.
The Men’s Eight produced one of the most courageous rows of the regatta, attacking early and pushing the pace through the middle 1000m.
While Germany claimed Gold, Australia finished just behind for a strong Silver, ahead of Romania.
The Women’s Eight followed up with a tight race of their own, racing through to claim Bronze behind Romania and the USA.
While not all crews reached A-Finals, many delivered important performances.
The Women’s Pair of Jaime Ford and Paige Barr OLY placed second in the B-Final, and two Australian Men’s Pair crews finished third and fifth respectively in the B-Final.
Australia’s Men’s Quadruple Scull took fifth in a fast A-Final, while additional crews picked up racing experience in C-Finals.
Thompson noted that the entire squad benefited from the regatta.
“We’ve had valuable, competitive racing across the program,” Thompson said. “Now it’s about pulling the full team together and fine-tuning for Shanghai.”
Before that, several crews will shift gears and head to the Henley Royal Regatta, where they’ll take on traditional side-by-side knockout racing on one of the sport’s most historic courses.
“Henley’s completely different,” Thompson said. “It’s racing for pride and an experience every rower should embrace. They should enjoy it, take it one race at a time, and see how far they can go.”
Australia finished third overall in the medal tally with two Gold, three Silver and one Bronze medal across the two World Cup regattas.
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